One God, separate and apart from the universe who created the universe

“In” the universe “like” a painter “puts a lot of himself into” a painting.

Definitely good and hates evil.

Those that do not believe in any god (a tiny, but vocal minority):

Atheism

No god.

The atheist must believe that all religions are wrong about the existence of any god.

Problems:

Calls the universe “cruel”

Calls all religion “bad”

Has no basis for “cruel,” “wrong,” or “bad” because of his dismissal of any ultimate good by which to compare.

Lewis says, of when he was an atheist,

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet. Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too – for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist – in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless – I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality – namely my idea of justice – was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be a word without meaning.”

The first major question everyone must confront is whether to believe in God or not. How do you respond, reading that Christians have a more “liberal view” than atheists about the existence of God?

The second question everyone must face is to decide what kind of God to believe in,

Some, including Pantheists, believe that God is beyond good and evil. What is the fundamental problem of Pantheism?

Others ( Jews, Muslims and Christians) believe that God is good and judges evil. What’s the problem created by this point of view?

What problem must be confronted if you reject the God of right and wrong because there is cruelty and injustice in the world?